Jay-Z, PSY & Pussy Riot Up For ‘Time’ Person Of The Year

Jay-Z, PSY and Pussy Riot (remember them?!) are up for Time magazine’s Person Of The Year. In case you’re just joining us, all three candidates had a particularly memorable 2012. Jay has the advantage of staying power, this year adding the Brooklyn Nets and a Barclays residency to his legacy. PSY, of course, brought the world “Gangnam Style” and is the most-viewed video on Youtube. Pussy Riot’s story is much heavier, as two members of the punk collective remain imprisoned in Russia over a protest performance earlier this year.

Those music acts are up for the title along with more highbrow fare like Barack Obama, both of the Clintons, Bashar Assad, Marissa Mayer and a few Olympians. There are 38 candidates in total, but we can’t imagine PSY edging out some of those — how do we say this — more important figures. That said, the Higgs Boson Particle is a nominee and it isn’t even a person so, truly, anything could happen.

The Person Of The Year issue of Time is on newsstands December 12. But there’s hope for PSY in the reader’s poll, the winner of which will be announced on December 14.